Review – Sully

Sully tells the story of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), a pilot who became a national hero when he landed a plane in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 people on the plane.  The film looks at the events that followed the landing, including an investigation questioning the events that happened.

Director Clint Eastwood continues his recent trend of biopics, following Invictus (2009), J. Edgar (2011), The Jersey Boys (2014) and American Sniper (2014).  Sully is his best biopic yet, though I wouldn’t say this is a full-on biopic like the films I just listed.  The film only spans the course of the investigation, as Sully and his co-pilot, Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), start second guessing their decision-making during the forced landing while the investigation lingers over their heads.  At a speedy 95 minutes, this is a tightly wound, gripping film that stays interesting the whole time.  As a viewer, we only know what we saw through the media coverage.  But film takes us deeper into the events that went down, including throwing us onto the plane during the landing, which is exhilarating.  Even though we know what is going to happen, Eastwood creates a scene that will have your palms sweating and put you on the edge of your seat.  It is one of the best scenes of 2016 and features a beautiful, yet haunting shot of Sully starring at the sinking plane surrounded by a number of life jackets and life boats.  It is a shot that will shake you.

Like most Tom Hanks roles, he plays an ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary situation.  And, like most Hank roles, he is perfect.  This is more of a restrained performance for Hanks, but that’s who Sully is.  He doesn’t think of himself as hero.  He only thinks of himself as a pilot who’s job is the safety of the everyone on his plane.  When the landing happens and the passengers are evacuating, we see Sully frantically searching the plane, making sure every passenger is off safe and sound because that is what he does.  There is scene later in the film, when Sully finds out what happened to the passengers and crew on the flight, that has Oscar written all over it for Hanks.  It is a powerful scene and one of the few times we see Sully show real emotion and vulnerability, yet also keeping his calmer demeanor.

I also really liked Aaron Eckhart as Skiles.  He really is a great co-pilot in this film for Hanks.  Skiles was the only one in the cockpit with Sully and the only one who fully supports every decision that was made in the air.  He stands strong by his Captain and will defend him to the very end.  Eckhart gives a strong, humorous performance that is one of the best of his underrated career.

Sully takes us to the heart of the events that occurred during the “Miracle on the Hudson” and expertly portrays them.  Eastwood, once again, shows why he is a true master behind the camera and we get another brilliant performance by Tom Hanks.  This is a great movie about a great man.

MY RATING – 3.5/4

Did you see Sully?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix.  And make sure to LIKE Kevflix on Facebook!